Rangers make no guarantees for Game 6 as season is on the line against Devils

Gene Boyars/The Star-LedgerMark Messier skates around the ice after scoring his third goal of the game in the third period of game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Devils, making good on his guarantee that the Rangers would win.

NEW YORK -- John Tortorella seemed a bit offended when a reporter brought up "the guarantee." Well actually, he was confused at first when he was asked about "1994," claiming ignorance of the question. And when he was finally clued into where it was going...

"Aww crap," the Rangers coach replied.

It's safe to say that the calendars are tightly bolted to 2012 at Madison Square Garden. Of all the remembrances of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals between the Rangers and the Devils, none is stronger than Mark Messier's guarantee prior to Game 6. The Rangers, then and now, were in a 3-2 series hole and victory was assured.

Sometimes storylines have to die and the Rangers are happy to trample on any comparisons.

"We haven't really thought about it," Brad Richards said. "No disrespect to history but we're worried about our own team."

Richards isn't going to make any promises.

"I don't think so," he said with a laugh.

The current Rangers captain, Ryan Callahan, he barely skimmed the subject. A succinct "no" said it all.

The never-shy Tortorella made a vow. It just happened to be about Henrik Lundqvist, the star goaltender coming off a game in which he allowed four goals.

"He'll play his best game tomorrow night," Tortorella said.

Oh, and he made another -- about Richards.

"I expect him to play his best game, too," Tortorella proclaimed.

But "the guarantee" or guarantees or wild signs of bravado or any glint of potential prescience were not to be seen, rained out by pragmatism coming down harder than the drops outside of MSG.